A review of the Afrotropical Rhaphium Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with the description of three new species

Type material of previously described Afrotropical species is examined and listed. New material of Afrotropical Rhaphium has been recently found in collections of some museums, and includes six species. Rhaphium amharaense sp. nov., R. gobaense sp. nov. and R. vikhrevi sp. nov. from Ethiopia are described and illustrated and associated with the Palaearctic Rhaphium ensicorne species group with a long antennal postpedicel, with usually short apical arista-like stylus in males. Males of R. amharaense are remarkable in the postpedicel about 20 × as long as the arista-like stylus and the cercus slightly shorter than epandrium. Rhaphium gobaense and R. vikhrevi differ from other Afrotropical species in the deeply bifurcated male surstylus, with long thin lobes. They differ from each other in the arista-like stylus and postpedicel length ratio and cercal lobes length ratio. A revised key to Afrotropical species of Rhaphium is provided. Now 18 long-legged fly species of the genus are known in the Afrotropical region.